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Faith & Criminal Justice

Back in the days when progressive Republicans were still part of our political landscape, Nelson Rockefeller, as Governor of New York and the 41st Vice President, served our country well. It is ironic, therefore, that perhaps the most socially damaging legislation in the last 50 years bears his name.

Chicago, IL: End Demand Illinois, a coalition of 20 organizations working to end sexual exploitation, is presenting two new one-act plays, written by Chicago playwrights, exploring the underlying causes of the demand for prostitution through their portrayals of four men who buy sex. Caleb Probst’s The Strings Attached and James Frizzell’s The Johns will be shown at the Viaduct Theater, 3111 N. Western Ave, from Thursday May, 27th through Sunday, June 13th.

The Roman Catholics have nothing on us. We Protestants can sin with the best of them! Indeed, it may very well be a by-product of the child sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church that a keen eye is now being increasingly focused on the Protestant churches.

Some might say that this year’s legislative session was a difficult one… and they’d most certainly be right! When it came to passing bills or programs that required any kind of new revenue – we faced an uphill battle. Our work for a fair budget continues to be particularly challenging, and often discouraging. This might be enough to leave a normal person feeling a bit down; but thankfully, we can share with you at least one significant success story on a piece of legislation that will do quite a bit of good.

Springfield, IL: Join staff of PCG as we rally with the Community Renewal Society in Springfield. Talk to your legislator about the need for a responsible budget, the rights of children of the incarcerated, and the racist staffing disparities in our nursing homes. CRS will be offering free transportation from two locations in Chicago. Please contact CRS staff at 312-427-4830 to register. For more information, see the event flier.

He should clearly have foreseen that the states like Arizona would require, at some point, some kind of identification card to guard against those who act strangely and suspiciously – those, that is, who are illegal and, therefore, threaten the social, political, and economic order.

"The people most affected by this (*the war on drugs*) are black and brown and poor. It's the abandoned inner cores of our urban areas… We pretend to educate the kids. We pretend that we're actually including them in the American ideal, but we're not…."--David Simon

Two weeks ago, the Cook County Board of Commissioners, with little fanfare, passed an ordinance decriminalizing low levels (10 grams or less) of marijuana possession in the non-incorporated areas of the County.